September 22, 2010

Far North Side Ald. Stone too 'full of pee and vinegar' for retirement

Ald. Bernard Stone, 50th, today announced he will seek an 11th term, saying "it will be no time for amateurs" in the City Council when a new mayor takes over next year.

Stone, 82, also had some harsh words for Mayor Richard Daley, criticizing him for stepping down when Chicago's financial situation is so bleak.

"I don't know why (Daley) said 'It's time,' " Stone said at a City Hall news conference, referring to Daley's stated reason for not running again. "It's currently the worst situation the city has ever been in in years, and I don't see why he would find that to be the time to abandon ship. If anything, I don't think it's the time at all. You don't abandon ship when the ship has sprung a leak."

Stone and Daley had a falling out a couple years ago.

If Daley had chosen to run again, however, Stone said he likely would not have run. But Stone also insisted he's too "full of pee and vinegar" for retirement.

Stone is the City Council's oldest member and its second-longest tenured. He said he's not afraid of a tough re-election fight, though in recent years, he has faced a series of challenges to his authority in the far North Side ward.

Stone was forced into a run-off election in 2007, which he won with 53 percent of the vote over union-backed opponent Naisy Dolar. He said he doesn't expect organized labor to invest so heavily in this election. Since then, Chicago has resolved its Wal-Mart stalemate and more stores have been approved inside city limits.

And Stone lost the race for ward committeeman in 2008 to state Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago), whom Daley endorsed.

Now Debra Silverstein, Sen. Silverstein's wife, will run against Stone, the senator said today. Greg Brewer, who came in third in the 50th Ward race in 2007, has an active campaign committee and a Facebook page proclaiming that he will run for alderman again. And Ahmed Khan, a former employee with the Indian Muslim Council of Chicago whose family owns a grocery store on Devon Avenue, will also be a candidate, according to his campaign manager, Faisal Abbasi.

Two former campaign workers for Stone were each sentenced to nearly a year in Cook County Jail in August for attempting to manipulate absentee ballots in the 2007 election. At the time, Stone called the case "a witch hunt," and said the two were "political prisoners."

Comments

Has anyone heard of an initiative to reduce the number of Aldermen? People post suggestions of that all the time, but I've never heard of anyone actually trying to get it done... I can think of a bunch of cynical reasons why that is, but let's make it clear we won't vote for any aldermen that don't insist on seeing the issue through!

Enough already - RETIRE - enjoy what years you have left in this world - travel! Just get the heck out of office. At 82 you bring nothing "fresh and new" to the table - people are sick and tired of the shenanigans by OLD politicians. It's time to let the younger generation succeed or fail!

Full of BS is more like it. If you aren't he buddy, he doesn't know that you exist. The only thing worse that Stone running again is the Silverstein family trying to take over the north side. That isn't going to be any better.

He should retire. Why do we need 50 alderman?. Out with the old in with the new. All these old cronies know how to work the system at the cost of us taxpayers. Look at the parking meter fiasco. What we need to privatize is city service like garbage collection. Why does it take 3 guys when in the burbs one man and a truck. One man and a tuck also fills potholes not 3 or 4

I guess Stone's eyesight and sense of smell is poor, because it is certainly not "pee and vinegar" he is full of. Daley abandoned ship because he doesn't want to take the blame for all the red ink. But Alderman Stone was part of Daley's voting block that caused the city's financial mess. He supported Daley. He voted for the parking meter lease! To complete the metaphor, Stone handed Daley the drill he used to puncture the hull of the ship. He can take infamous "credit" for that. He should do the right thing and resign.

Just what we need: more representation by an out-of-touch, imperious, unresponsive "politician" way past his expiration date. Guess What? We don't want your 30 years of experience--we want fresh voices and new ideas. Old guard, meet the new guard.

All 50 aldermen on the Chicago City Council had to file paperwork earlier this year detailing their outside income and gifts. The Tribune took that ethics paperwork and posted the information here for you to see. You can search by ward number or alderman's last name.

The Cook County Assessor's office has put together lists of projected median property tax bills for all suburban towns and city neighborhoods. We've posted them for you to get a look at who's paying more and who's paying less.

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